Our 14-day tour of Japan begins and ends in Kyoto and features Japan’s famous Cherry Blossoms as well as one of it’s most popular attractions – Mt Fuji.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Japan is it’s distinctive culture. Riders will enjoy a two-week immersion into this captivating environment, riding stunning rural Japanese roads, staying in tradition Japanese hotels and guest houses and enjoying delicious Japanese cuisine.

This exciting tour is filled with carefully selected attractions that will fulfill the promise of a truly premium-level Japanese motorcycling experience. Highlights include:

Kyoto – one of Japans most beautiful and historically significant cities

Yoshino – famous for its many thousands of sakura (cherry blossom) trees

Koyasan, the primary pilgrimage destination and cradle of Buddhism in Japan

The island of Myiajima, a sacred site in Japanese Buddhism and site of the famous floating gate “O Torii”, one of the three most photographed attractions in Japan

A motorcycling paradise – the north coast of Honshu, featuring breathtaking views and twisty roads with little traffic

Mt. Daisen National Park, home of the oldest Shinto shrine in Japan

The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Shirakawa-go, a village consisting of traditional houses with steep thatched roofs – a famous Japanese photo opportunity

Matsumoto, with its famous black Crow Castle, surrounded by countless cherry trees

Mt Fuji, including a free day to ride around the mountain or to visit the famous Fuji Sengen Shrine

Our Japanese Adventure includes stunning motorcycling roads, coupled with an opportunity to truly experience the cultural aspects of this fascinating land. The route is totally paved and ideal for two-up riding, but includes some technical mountain riding with many twisty and serpentine roads.

At a Glance Your Cherry Blossoms and Mt Fuji Adventure

Welcome to the most beautiful and historic city of Japan! Take your time to walk around and get into contact with the Japanese culture. If you arrive a day or two early, go for a guided city tour and explore the surroundings. You will get your bike at the hotel in the afternoon, after that we meet for the kick off briefing and dinner.

The first riding day of the tour starts with two highlights: Yoshino – one of the centers of the “Sakura” (the cherry blossom) – and Koyasan, “the” pilgrimage destination and cradle of Buddhism in of Japan.

A 2 hour ferry ride in the morning will bring us to Tokushima, from where we ride on wonderful mountain roads to Kochi, which features the mildest climate of the region and also our first “Ryokan” – a Japanese style hotel, where everything works a little bit differently.

Again we dive on small roads into Japan’s backcountry, heading north. We’ll experience the express road that connects 9 different islands and approach Hiroshima. Our hotel is at the coast about 12 miles away from the city and right next to the island of Myiajima, another sacred and famous place in Japanese Buddhism.

Today you can either visit the city of Hiroshima with its Peace Memorial and A-Bomb Dome, or you spend the day on the island of Myiajima, which includes the famous floating gate “O Torii”, one of the three most photographed attractions in Japan. You can also hike up the sacred mountain and visit the famous shrine there.

A challenging riding day! We enjoy the twisty mountain roads as well as the pink cherry trees right next to them and arrive in Matsue. Don’t miss a walk around the castle there and make sure to get a picture of the famous beautiful sunset on the lakeshore!

The north coast of Honshu is a rider’s paradise: wonderful views, twisty roads and not much traffic. We’ll cross the Mt. Daisen National Park, where we certainly see some snow on the side of the roads. And we’ll stay in a hotel that overlooks a breathtaking section of the rugged coastline!

The ride today will mostly take place on twisty backcountry roads along the central north coast of Honshu and includes the visit of another famous location: Amanohashidate in the village of Miyazu is a popular sightseeing point – a 2 mile long, pine tree covered narrow sand bar, also called “Heaven’s Bridge”.

Into the mountains and back into history! From the coast around Fukui we turn east to higher regions and visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site Shirakawa-go, a village consisting of traditional houses with steep thatched roofs – another famous picture stop in Japan! Our destination Takayama – famous for its beef, Sake breweries and historic center is well worth a walk before dinner!

After a wonderful mountain road in the morning we visit Matsumoto with its famous black Crow Castle, surrounded by countless cherry trees! Later in the afternoon we see snow covered Mt. Fuji appearing on the horizon. From our hotel at the foot of the mountain we have with a little bit of luck a perfect view of “Fuji-san”!

A nice ride will bring us down to the south coast. We will cover most of the ground there on the express way with eventual excursions into the mountains, before we hit “lands end” in Irago-misaki and take the ferry to Toba, the center of Japan’s pearl production.

After an optional visit of Ise with its famous shrine we turn inland and north on small roads, enjoying our last riding day in Japan. Once back in Kyoto, we have some free time in the afternoon, before we meet for our final dinner – Japanese style of course!

Departure from Kyoto: we hope that you enjoyed the roads, sights and locations of Japan and look forward to a next time! We will arrange an airport shuttle for you and wish you a safe flight back home.

An additional charge is required for a top box or panniers:

Top Box: $21/day
Panniers: $41/day

Panniers are not popular in Japan, in part due to the many narrow roads. We will have a support vehicle for transporting rider luggage, and we recommend that riders bring a tank bag to carry small personal items.

Because so many roads are very narrow and very twisty on this trip, smaller motorcycles are recommended. These smaller motorcycles have plenty of power for the routes that we’ll use, and our tour leaders will be mounted on these small motorcycles.

Special Inclusions

Single room supplement

The single supplement applies for riders who request single occupancy. It also applies for cases in which a rider wishes to share a room with another rider, but there are no riders available or willing to share a room.

Claus is an outstanding guide!

Claus is an outstanding guide with whom we have ridden in the past. He imparts a confidence that there is no issue he can’t handle. Also, he does a great job of moving the group along without seeming overbearing. He makes an effort to know the country and the culture.

We’re already signed up for the Alps and Morocco

I’ve ridden eight Ayres Adventures tours, three of them IBA (Iron Butt Association) specific rides and haven’t been disappointed. All have been first class, unique, and full of very pleasant surprises. Ron and his staff have always been courteous, helpful, and patient. In fact, he has found some special tour leaders and guides. By the end of the tour, they become friends that we look forward to seeing again.

Each tour had it’s own highlights. The IBA tours fit our style of riding since we are interested in seeing as much as we can and not spending a lot of time at the destination hotels. If you ride one, be prepared to cover some distance in all kinds of road and weather conditions.

Ushuaia had been one of those must see places for us and the South America IBA ride was the perfect way to do it, we ended up with more than we expected. The scenery was spectacular, the food was excellent, and this group of riders made it a ride to remember.

We enjoyed this one so much, we’re already signed up for the Alps IBA ride this September and the Portugal, Spain, and Morocco tour next year.

Private Tour Inquiry

We are happy to book any of our motorcycle tour as a private tour. For most tours, we require a minimum of 8 bikes, or 12 participants (riders plus co-riders). We can provide a private motorcycle tour for smaller groups, but a surcharge may apply. We can also customize any of our regular tours for a private group.